Julia Blanton

Food Rescue Program Coordinator

Julia Blanton joined CEC’s staff in April 2018 to support food systems work as the Santa Barbara County Food Rescue Coordinator. After earning a B.S. in Nutrition from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she worked as a Diet Specialist in the Nutrition Department at Cottage Hospital. With a deep love of traveling and the outdoors, she has a passion for programs that lead to healthy people and a healthy planet.

Michael Chiacos

Energy & Climate Program Director

Michael Chiacos joined CEC in 2007 and directs our energy, transportation, and climate programs. He has led dozens of CEC’s programs, from forming the regional electric vehicle readiness group to working on state policy issues at the Public Utilities Commission. He is the principal author of CEC’s Transportation Energy Plan, a comprehensive look at the various technologies, strategies, policies, modes and other options for reducing fossil fuel use in the transportation sector.

Michael holds a BA with honors in Environmental Studies from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR. He has recently served on the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District Community Advisory Committee, sat on the Measure A Citizens Oversight Committee (overseeing $1.5 billion in transportation spending), was president of the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, and served as the Transportation Chair of the Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club.

Alhan Diaz-Correa

Embajador de la Comunidad | Community Ambassador

Alhan is leading outreach and engagement with frontline communities in the North County region of Santa Barbara for Conectados 2050/Connected 2050, a project CEC is helping implement for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. A Santa Maria native, Alhan spent the last 8 years in Montana, where he earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Montana in Missoula. He values solidarity and actively works in the areas of racial, economic, and environmental justice. Happy to be back home, he is excited to help CEC and his community connect to form strong bonds and collaborations.

Cameron Gray

Transportation & Climate Program Senior Manager

Cameron Gray joined CEC in 2015 and is a member of the Climate and Transportation team. He works to increase access to cleaner plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) and new clean mobility solutions, such as bikeshare programs and electric vanpool services. Cameron also provides policy guidance and facilitates community engagement for local government planning related to transportation, climate resilience, and community development. He is one of CEC’s representatives for the Central Coast Climate Justice Network, which unifies social justice and environmental organizations committed to a transformative climate movement that advances social, economic, and environmental justice in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. He has also facilitated the development of several other networks and groups, including Electric Drive 805, SBCAG’s Climate Resilience Team, and the Ventura County EV Ready Communities coalition. Cameron strongly believes that the best solutions for bold climate action are unlocked with robust collaboration that is rooted in community.

Cameron received a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2013. He also holds a dual Bachelor of the Arts in Psychology and Philosophy from UCSB. Cameron is a 2017 Alumni of Leading from Within’s Emerging Leaders Program (Cohort V).

Jennifer Hernández

Energy and Climate Program Assistant

Jennifer joined CEC in late 2018 as an energy assistant. Her focus is creating an Electric Vehicle Blueprint for Ventura County. Before joining CEC, she interned with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) working on environmental justice issues in Ventura County. This was part of their work with the Clean Energy 805 Coalition. Jennifer has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Lisa Hill

Marketing Consultant / Graphics Manager

Lisa Hill is Principal / Creative Director at PHAROS Creative LLC, a boutique branding & communications firm that has spent the past 20 years helping small businesses and nonprofits tell their stories. PHAROS partners long-term with clients across the globe, sometimes working on-site, and sometimes from afar. Lisa has a BA in Studio Art & Art History from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. She has worked with the Community Environmental Council and the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival since 2014 on the Marketing and Production teams.

Iris Kelly

Outreach & Events Coordinator

Iris Kelly joined CEC in January 2017 as an Earth Day Festival Exhibitor Coordinator intern before joining the staff in May 2017. A Santa Barbara native, she grew up passionate about environmental protection and society’s responsibility for creating sustainable solutions. Iris received a Bachelor of Science in Sustainability from Arizona State University.

Kathi King

Outreach and Education Director

Kathi King is the Outreach and Education Director at CEC and plays a key role in organizing CEC’s Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival. Kathi manages CEC’s Ditch Plastic program including the successful Rethink the Drink bottled water reduction program in area schools. She is on the board of the Montecito Association and is on the Santa Barbara School District’s Sustainability Sub-Committee.

Kathi has a B.S. degree in Telecommunications and Film from San Diego State University and worked in the television industry in Los Angeles for several years. She was an Associate Producer of the still-popular sitcom “Full House.” Kathi and her husband Jeff moved to Santa Barbara in 1998. Their two children attended Santa Barbara public schools for grades K-12 and Kathi served on several PTA boards and committees between 1998 and 2015. She did post-graduate work in Environmental Studies at Santa Barbara City College, where a class project led to Santa Barbara’s single use plastic bag ban. Learn more about Kathi.

Sharyn Main

Climate Resilience Program Director

Sharyn Main has 35 years of experience in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. Sharyn returned to CEC in 2020 to continue working on critical issues related to climate change and community resilience. She served as Senior Director of Community Investments at the Santa Barbara Foundation for nearly a decade where she developed countywide initiatives to advance regional strategies for land conservation, protection of ecosystems, and support of agriculture and food systems. Over the course of her career, she has helped develop and manage a range of community collaborations including the Santa Barbara County Conservation Blueprint and Santa Barbara County Food Action Plan.

She previously served as the Assistant Director of Pollution Prevention Programs at CEC in the 1990s where she also co-founded and led the South Coast Watershed Alliance and re-launched the Earth Day celebration. Sharyn is a fourth-generation Santa Barbara County resident and has been actively involved in the arts and environmental protection throughout her life.

Gina Nisbet

Finance & Administrative Associate

Gina Nisbet has 25 years of local experience in Business Accounting & Finance, nine of which were running her own business. She proudly provides accurate, detailed accounting services, and loves the fast-paced, dynamic nature of CEC, where she is surrounded by people who are passionate about making a difference. A UCSB alum, she fell in love with this area and built her life here. Happily married for 20 years with three children, she enjoys spending free time outdoors with her two Bernese Mountain dogs and watching her youngest play baseball.

April Price

Renewable Energy Program Senior Manager

April’s work with the Community Environmental Council is focused on transitioning the tri-county region to renewable energy sources and reduced energy consumption. She leads CEC’s Solarize program, which facilitates residential solar adoption. She also serves on the utility-funded local government partnership, South County Energy Efficiency Partnership (SCEEP) which is focused on energy efficiency in municipal facilities. April holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Management with a specialization in Economics and Politics of the Environment from the Bren School at University of California, Santa Barbara. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from UC Santa Cruz. April has a background in environmental education and volunteer management. April has a background in environmental education and volunteer management, and is a board member of the Wilderness Youth Project.

Ana Rico

Embajadora de la Comunidad | Community Ambassador

Ana is leading outreach and engagement with frontline communities in the South County region of Santa Barbara for Conectados 2050/Connected 2050, a project CEC is helping implement for the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. Ana was raised in Santa Barbara’s Eastside neighborhood, where she experienced many traffic dangers as a pedestrian, including when she walked her three kids to school every day. She is committed to facilitating truly sustainable solutions to climate change that are developed hand-in-hand with our region’s most impacted frontline communities.

Allegra Roth

Food and Climate Program Manager

Allegra Roth has a background in environmental and water policy and a passion for food system work. Before joining CEC, she worked for the California State Assembly, both as a District Representative in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, and as a Legislative Aide in the State Capitol. Working for state legislators allowed Allegra to develop specialized skills in policy analysis and development, group facilitation, and multi-stakeholder outreach. Allegra graduated from the University of California at Davis with a B.S. in Community and Regional Development. She enjoys working as a Food and Climate Program Senior Associate at CEC, addressing barriers to a sustainable food system and identifying regenerative solutions.

Becca Summers

Development Director

Becca Summers is a Santa Barbara local who began her development career in 1993 while teaching high school in New Hampshire. What started as a means to improve education and programming within her small school of 300 students quickly developed into a passion to improve the quality of education across the state. She would go on to put her development talents to use for at-risk youth programs, where she accumulated multiple awards. Returning to Santa Barbara, she led development efforts at the Museum of Natural History and at Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy. Becca holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Science from Bennington College and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Goddard College.

Nicole Wald

Communications Director

Nicole Wald is a freelance writer and educator in Santa Barbara, CA with a passion for helping the planet. She supports CEC in developing content for social media, PR, marketing, and the annual Earth Day Festival. Part of this work includes gathering stories of people along the Central Coast who consciously take steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Sue Walker

Executive Assistant to the CEO & Development Director

Sue moved to Santa Barbara in 1989 and, up until joining CEC in November 2019, spent her career as an environmental consultant, as well as a planner with the County of Santa Barbara’s Department of Planning and Development, Division of Energy, Minerals and Compliance. The vast majority of her work in these roles focused on the management and administration of projects requiring environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Sue holds a B.A. and M.A. in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the City University of New York, respectively. She is excited to help CEC maximize the benefits that stem from its programs and campaigns.

Michael Williams

Chief Financial Officer

Michael, who holds a Business Economics degree from UCSB, a CPA certification, and an MBA from UC Irvine, is not your typical non-profit CFO. While he has more than 30 years of professional experience in Finance, Marketing and Operations, he only joined the non-profit world in the past decade. This began when he had an opportunity to become CFO of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, a role he greatly enjoyed.

After a short foray back into business to start a technology company, he decided to return to the nonprofit sector. Noticing that small- to medium-sized nonprofits only need a part-time CFO, he decided to become a “shared CFO.” Michael now concurrently serves multiple nonprofits, applying best practices learned at big for profit companies, re-engineereing accounting processes, and implementing new financial systems.